In oilfield applications, the drilling process can be impeded by a wide variety of problems. Accurate measurements of downhole conditions, rock properties and surface equipment allow many drilling risks to be minimized, but they are also crucial for detecting that a problem has occurred. At present, most problem detection is the result of human vigilance, but detection probability is often degraded by fatigue, high workload or lack of experience.
Some limited techniques have been used for detecting one of two possible rig states, but generally these have only used a single input channel. In one example, a technique is used to automatically detect if the drill pipe is “in slips” or “not in slips”. This information is used in gaining accurate control of depth estimates, for example in conjunction with activities such as measurement-while-drilling (MWD or mud logging. To tell whether the drill pipe is “in slips” the known technique generally only uses a single input channel measured on the surface: Hookload. Another example is a technique used to predict if the drill bit is “on bottom” or “not on bottom.” Similarly, this method makes use of only a single input channel, namely block position, and is only used to detect one of two “states” of the drilling rig.
Known event detection systems have depended upon the drilling personnel to identify the rig state. For example see, “The MDS System: Computers Transform Drilling”, Bourgois, Burgess, Rike, Unsworth, Oilfield Review Vol. 2, No. 1, 1990, pp.4–15, and “Managing Drilling Risk” Aldred et al., Oilfield Review, Summer 1999, pp. 219.